The Hunt
by Alpha Three
Summary: Sequel to World War III. Michael is an Alpha about to go on the Hunt, while Number One's dangerous shadow still looms over HIVE. Something evil is brewing... Rated T for violence
1. Michael the Alpha

"Piper, you are not going on the Hunt," Nero said over her objections, "I don't care if Michael is going. He'll be fine without you. It's already hard enough on him being my son. You don't need to be following him all of the time."

"Max…" Piper trailed off as an alarm blared. "That would be Nina."

Sure enough, Nina called in seconds later. "Uh, Sniper, it wasn't my fault. I was teaching my class and someone who wasn't me set off the demo explosion."

"Nina, you teach basic explosives," Piper scowled, "and I would have expected you to be the one exploding things. We'll have a crew down there soon." Nina ended the call as Piper turned to Nero, saying, "Max, do you really think letting her have a class was a good idea?"

"Angel, it's one class a day, and she's pretty safe in the science department. If Pike doesn't blow up the place, she does. At least we get to remodel a lot."

"You're evading my point. Nina gets a class but I can't watch my son go on the Hunt?"

"No, Nina gets a class and you can't follow your son onto the Hunt. There is a big difference," Nero said as Michael walked through the office, heading to drop his things off in their quarters before heading to the library.

"The Hunt is in a week. Are you prepared?" Piper asked as he was leaving.

"Yes, Mom. I'm going to meet Tim, Riza and Ellie before dinner," Michael sighed, slamming the door.

"He looks like you, Max," Piper smiled.

"He doesn't like you prying, Angel. Let him be."

"He's not ready to go on the Hunt," Piper started again.

"All of the Alphas are perfectly capable. They had better be."

"Where are they going?"

"You'll find out when they do. But I've made sure that it's safe."


	2. The Library

**A.N.: In tribute to one of my friends who is graduating, we now have Tim, Michael's best friend at HIVE. Enjoy and do unto others!**

* * *

Ellie ran a hand through her shockingly blue hair as she sat down next to the other Alphas gathered in the library. "Where's Michael?" she asked, "He was heading straight back here."

"No idea," Tim, the boy with brown hair sitting next to her, said, "What do you two think of the explosion in the science building? Pike or Nina?"

"Nina," Riza nodded as she pulled out a book, "I heard it in the hallway. She's been behind the last two explosions. Pike's been oddly quiet lately."

"Pike, quiet? That's unlikely," Michael laughed, dropping into the open chair next to her. "What's up?"

"Working on something," Tim mumbled, looking back down at his furiously scribbled paper.

"Mister Creative Genius here is working on his next open mic night piece," Ellie smiled, "I'm finishing up some of Pike's homework, and Riza's breaking out a textbook for the test in biotech tomorrow. Where have you been?"

"Mom's being Mom again. She's going crazy about the Hunt next week."

"I'm not worried about it," Riza smiled, "Personally, who cares if I get caught early on? At least it's a vacation."

"I haven't been on vacation since the summer before my first year. And Mom and Dad were paranoid all the time," Michael told them.

"They're some of the biggest villains in the world. I would be paranoid too," Ellie chipped in, "What's going on in Timland now?"

"Vacation…paranoid…hobo…walrus?" Time mumbled.

"Wow, I actually got a response from the Writer," Ellie laughed, "It's a good thing this kid can write, because otherwise he'd go insane. Never go blind, Tim."

"Blind as a bat…" he mumbled, "that's too cliché."

Riza put down her book, asking, "Hey, Michael, where is the Hunt? Have they told you?"

"They haven't told me, and I don't think they will. I'd be much better off if they did, but I have no clue. I don't even think **Mom** knows. She and Dad have been arguing about it for the past week or so."


	3. South America

A week later, all of the Alphas were gathered in the hangar bay, buzzing with excitement as they were waiting for Nero to give them their pre-Hunt briefing.

He walked out from behind a hidden door, stepping up to an informal podium. "Quiet," Nero requested, and immediately the Alphas were silent. "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. You are about to embark on one of the great milestones of your journey through our school. As some of you may already know, only Alphas go on the Hunt. Only Alphas have the privilege of testing themselves against Raven. This is because – and you must never repeat what I am about to say – **you are the best**. You are the best that we have, the future leaders of the free world. Yes, the other streams may go on to do great things, but you all will be the greatest. I have taken every precaution that I can to ensure your safety. As long as you do not cross Raven or tangle with any wild animals, you should be fine."

"Likely," Tim said, elbowing Michael.

"Now, I am going to give you a bit of an advantage here. As of this moment, all of your Blackboxes have been given a piece of code that stops you from being able to access HIVEmind's data servers. In short, you can't ask him for help or information on the terrain. Why have I done this? Well, this year I have decided to allow you to talk your plans for dealing with the location over on the Shroud. This year, I have decided to tell you in advance that you will be spending the next twenty-four hours or so in South America, specifically in the jungle. Good luck to you all, and I will see you soon." He waved them off towards the awaiting Shrouds.

Piper ran to give Michael a hug before he got on the Shroud, Nero nearly having to hold her back from following him.


	4. The Whole Jungle is Out to Kill You

Tim, Ellie, Riza and Michael sat down on the Shroud, watching HIVE grow smaller and smaller in the distance.

"So, South America," Tim broke the silence. "Ideas?"

"Not really," Ellie admitted, shaking her head in a cascade of blue, "Sorry sweetie. I've never been there. Michael? Riza?"

Michael shook his head, "I've been to Rio once, but that's about it. I don't think they're gonna drop us in front of Christ the Redeemer or anything. Mom and Dad preferred Europe anyway."

"So you can navigate Venice in a gondola, give us a tour of the British Museum, or guide us through the train system, but you can't get out of the jungle?" Ellie asked.

"Pretty much."

"Well, I've been in the jungle once or twice. I don't know if Honduras is the same as all of South America, but we avoided the jungle as much as possible. When I set up that money laundering scheme, it was to get out of there as soon as I could. You see, the jungle is really dangerous, even for people like me who lived next to it for nearly our whole lives. Avoiding Raven is going to be the easy part," Riza said as they turned to look at her.

"Great confidence booster," Tim laughed, 'What are we up against?"

"It may look nice on TV, but the whole jungle is out to kill you," Riza told them.

"Lovely. The jungle or Raven, and we get both."


	5. Run

**A.N.: Happy graduation, Tim!**

* * *

"Descent," someone said over the loudspeakers. A few seconds later, the Alphas dropped down into the jungle. With a nod to his group, Michael took off running as Raven's count began. In half an hour, she would be heading out after them, especially him. She was keeping score, and Nero's son would bring in more points than an entire Stream.

Tim had run into Michael right away, and they began to move through the dense forest. A few times, they had caught glimpses of other Alphas, but they still hadn't run into the rest of their group.

Passing by a waterfall, Michael nearly tripped over a kid lying in the mud, trying to disguise himself unsuccessfully. As they walked away, two shadows dropped down behind them. They whipped around, ready to see the sneering face of Raven and one of the guards, but were met with smiles instead.

"You didn't think we forgot about you, did you?" Ellie smiled, "Now let's get out of here before Raven finds us."

"What do you mean, 'out of here'?" Riza said testingly.

"Out of here. Where Raven can't find us. It isn't cheating, per se. We _**are**_ supposed to avoid Raven," she replied, "So what if we take the-" She was cut off by a massive explosion from far off in the forest. "_**Run!**_"


	6. Give Up Or Die

"What the heck was that?" Riza panted when they finally stopped running.

"No idea, but I don't think Aunt Raven is going to be coming after us right away. Knowing her, she's going to find out what that was," Michael told them.

"Whatever we do, let's not go back that way. I have a gut feeling whoever did that isn't friendly," Ellie said.

"No way I'm going back there," Tim added, "It seems like a death trap." As soon as the words came out of his mouth, another explosion shook the earth, this one much closer. They took off again, running in terror as chaos reigned.

Raven had pulled out her Blackbox, calling Nero and ignoring all of Piper's messages. "Max, you said this place was safe! They're bombing us out of here! Orders?!" Another explosion went off behind her, oily black smoke pouring from the trees.

"Get them out of there," Nero ordered, "now."

"We don't have everyone,' Raven yelled over a deafening roar.

"It's better than none. Get them out of there! Wait a few minutes for the rest to find their way to the Shroud, and then get out of there."

Raven signed off and headed for the Shroud. They had less than half of the Alpha Stream. Michael and his group were not among them. Raven and the guards were frantically prepping the Shroud for liftoff as a few kids ran up to it, giving up running and heading for safety.

Raven waited five minutes and took off as another missile streaked through the air, hitting the waterfall and detonating as they flew away.

Michael turned to his team, saying, "Let's head for the Shroud. We'll have to take a longer way, but we need to get out of here."

"We can't give up."

"Give up or die," Michael told them, tuning and heading off into the forest.


	7. A Lot of Enemies

They ducked into a cave as another missile whistled past, destroying a few trees but passing them. It had begun to rain, and Tim started a fire in the back of the cave.

They sat down to wait out the storm, which thankfully brought a cease of fire, at least for now. "Who's trying to kill us?" Riza asked, "I don't think you dad would want us dead."

"It's not him, it's gotta be some enemy," Ellie commented, wringing out her blue hair, "Why would he bomb his own kid?"

"Being some of the most powerful people in the world, your parents probably have a lot of enemies," Tim said, "Taking out their kid has got to be good leverage."

"Yeah, a lot of people seem to hate us," Michael affirmed, "Does anyone have a Blackbox connection? Mine is out of juice."

They all pulled out their Blackboxes, searching for a signal. Riza had a weak signal when she moved to the back of the cave. She called everyone over, and they watched as she called in.

Nero answered, Piper looking over his shoulder. "Michael, kids, you're alive," he smiled.

"Dad, people are bombing us, well, they were. We're stuck in the rain forest."

"You're not on the Shroud?" Nero's eyes widened. He turned to Piper and instructed, "Get Nina and a retrieval team, angel."

Piper ran off, disappearing from the screen.

"We'll get you guys out of there, just stay put." Nero said, the signal cutting off as the cavern exploded over their heads.


	8. Get to the Shroud

Michael stood up, looking around at the remnants of the cave that had been protecting them only seconds before. The fire was fizzling out as he looked around for his friends.

"What. The. Hell?!" Ellie sat up, the rain washing dust and dirt off of her, "What was that?!"

"Are you ok?" Michael asked, holding out a hand to help her up.

"I think so," she winced as she stood, putting pressure on an injured ankle, "Maybe not."

Tim stood, brushing off his jumpsuit as Riza cracked her knuckles, saying, "I'm going to kill whoever did that."

"We have to get out of here and find Raven. Right now," Ellie said, hopping to where the mouth of the cave used to be.

"Not like that you aren't," Tim put an arm around her for support, which she gratefully accepted, "You'd end up breaking your ankle if you tried."

"Let's go."

"One problem," Riza said, "From what your dad told us, the Shroud has already left."


	9. Don't Fail Me

Nero held his fourth cup of coffee as he tore his eyes away from his computer screen. "They blacked out. Something happened. Angel, I don't know if they're still even alive."

"They have to be," Piper came over to give him a hug, "They have to be, Max."

"Nina just reported that she and Hue are on their way with a team," he said, "We're missing a total of thirteen students."

"Max, they have to be alive," Piper repeated, "Whoever did this is going to pay, even if we get them all back."

"I know, angel. They will, I promise," Nero told her, "I already have my suspicions."

A video feed popped up on his computer screen, showing a face that had been a cause of a lot of exasperation in his time at HIVE. "We're on our way. We stopped to pick up the others, but we're an hour or so out from the Hunt location."

"Do you have a plan?"

"No disrespect, Sir, but I never have a plan. We'll figure it out as we go along. You know that's how we operate."

"Are you all at least armed? Thermo optic suits?" Nero asked.

"Yes, Sir. We're prepared and ready to drop in as soon as we get there."

"Don't fail me, Malpense."


	10. Only One Plan

**A.N.: Check out the poll and vote!**

* * *

"What do we do now?" Ellie was still limping along with help from everyone else. "You're a leader, Michael. Lead us somewhere. Preferably lead us back to HIVE."

Michael thought for a minute, then came to the conclusion, "There's only one plan."

"Which is…?"

"We start walking and hope we run into a town or something. Then we try to contact HIVE."

They started walking, Michael leading the way as they hacked through the forest. Ellie had long since made Tim carry all of her stuff, but she was determined to walk along on her own. Riza was scouting the area, trying to stay near the front of the group, and she was the first one to see the river.

"Michael, we have a bit of a problem. There's no way we can swim across that." They had come right up to the bank of the swirling river, daunting to eve experienced white water rafters.

"Umm… what if we set up camp here before the sun goes down. That will at least give us a chance to put a roof over our heads and get some decent food before nightfall," he told them.

They dropped their things under a tree and got right to work. Riza sat down by the bank of the river, and within minutes she was starting to catch fish with a pole that was simply a branch and a piece of vine. Tim had climbed a tree and was throwing leafy branches down to Ellie, who was using them to fashion a roof, and Michael was staking larger branches into the ground to hold the roof up.

Just as Otto and his team were departing, the sun was threatening to set. Michael had started a fire, and they began to cook and work on a floor for their makeshift shelter so thy could keep themselves off of the ground and away from snakes, spiders, and all sorts of other rain forest animals.

"All we have to do is remember not to burn the forest down," Riza said, adding another branch to the fire.

"Yeah, that's Nina's job." They all erupted into peals of laughter, not knowing what dangers lurked ahead of them.


	11. Who Let Nina Drive?

They stayed in the same spot the next day, collecting supplies, finding food and purifying water to take with. The river had an ample supply of small fish, and there were plenty of edible plants around that they were sure were not toxic. They were living much better than Michael had feared when he first found out the Shroud had left without them. The still had no Blackbox signal, but they were doing pretty well for not having much wilderness training.

Meanwhile, Otto and Nina's team was flying in and making great time until they literally it a wall. Shelby was the first to ask, "Who let Nina drive?"

"Hey," Nina snapped from the seat behind her, "I'm right here."

Wing walked out of the cockpit, saying, "We've hit a dome. They're completely bubbled in."

"You've got to be joking," Raven strode up the aisle, walking into the cockpit, "Well, it looks like we do have a bit of a problem."

"When did she get here?" Otto whispered.

"I've been here the whole time. You are just unobservant," Raven called back.

"I swear we didn't leave with her," Otto whispered. Nina just shrugged, listening in to the shouting match occurring over the radio.

Piper (and consequentially Nero) had been sitting up all night, waiting to hear something from Otto's team, but the first news they got wasn't good.

"What do you mean 'they're bubbled in'?!" Piper shouted over the radio, "What happened to saving them? _**What happened to not leaving anyone behind?!**_"

"Angel," Nero pried her headset off, saying, "go lay down. Get some sleep. I'll handle this."

Piper left, muttering, "They had better figure out a way to get them back…"


	12. Bush Hunters

Night had fallen again, and the group had packed up, ready to leave as soon as the sun rose the next morning. All they ad left to do was smother the fire and fold up the roof of the shelter – the rest would have to be rebuilt when they found another campsite.

"Did anyone hear that?" Ellie whispered, their conversation dropping dead. Snippets of rough Spanish floated trough the trees, but they couldn't hear anyone walking. No twigs were breaking and no branches were snapping out of the mysterious group's way. All they could hear were voices.

Riza had grown pale. "Bush hunters," she told them in a whisper, "I recognize that dialect. They were greatly feared by everyone in our village. They kill anyone in their way."

"Well we won't try to stop them killing any animals out here then," Michael whispered back.

"You obviously don't see the problem. **We're in their way.**"

"The fire," Tim said, "They already know we're here."

He threw dirt into the fire, sending them into darkness, and fumbling around for their packs. It was pitch black, but they all managed to find their things (and each other) and start walking away from the torches that the hunters were carrying.

"Not into the river," Riza hissed as they passed narrowly close to the bank. Michael turned the group back towards the forest, figuring the dense underbrush would keep them somewhat obscured, even if it did slow them down.

Within seconds he stepped on a twig, sending an audible _crack_ through the still air. They were hurled violently upward, and the last word they heard before the blood rushing to their heads made them black out was, "_Sacrificio_."


	13. I Won't Let You Go Alone

Piper was just picking up her katana swords as Nero entered their room. "Angel, what are you doing?" he asked, not too sure that he wanted to know the answer.

"I'm going after them. Nina and Otto are totally incompetent, and you know that."

"They have Raven with them," Nero told her, "be reasonable."

"No, Max, I _am_ being reasonable. You can't expect me to wait around-"

"I don't expect you to wait around at all, Angel. I expect you to sit in the transmissions room with me and monitor their rescue."

"Some field agent you are, you won't even go after your own son when-"

"Angel, listen to me. It's too dangerous out there. You can't-"

"I can't. Of course I can't. I'm too delicate for this, I expect? You want to lock me up in this castle – _this prison_ – and have me watch my son and his friends die out there?!"

"I never said-"

"You can't expect four children to survive in the jungle for very long. Now, I'm going after them. If you want to sit here and watch off of a video screen on a comfy, air conditioned room and have your servants bring you whatever you want while they are suffering out there, so be it. **I** am going after my son." She spun away from him, heading towards the door.

"Piper," he grabbed her wrist before she could leave.

"_**Let. Go. Of. Me.**_" She hissed.

"No," he said bluntly, "Listen to me first. I never said that I won't let you go. It's too dangerous out there, and I won't let you go alone. I'm coming with you."


	14. Escape the Encampment

When Michael came to, he was tied to a tree. The others were roped on trees of their own. It appeared that they were in some sort of improvised village, since most of the buildings were made of forest material and scrap metal most likely found at a dump.

There was no one around, so Ellie asked, "Anyone have a plan?"

"Give me a second here," said Tim, who was busy untying himself. He was free within seconds, and was busy untying Riza when they heard a shout coming through the trees.

Riza was free, and they were working on untying the others when a group of people started building a bonfire only a few feet away. As Michael threw the ropes down, he saw flames through the trees and heard snippets of conversation. It was definitely not good…

"_Sacrificio!_1" chanted the people by the fire. A burly man, covered almost head to toe in what looked like war paint, headed away from the group building the bonfire and towards them.

"Let's go," mouthed Michael, grabbing their stuff and tossing it to them.

They were nearly out of the encampment when the man caught up with them, shouting, "_Parada! Parada!_2" They didn't stop, and ran until their legs gave out.

"We have **got** to get out of here!" Riza panted as they finally stood up and continued at a slower pace.

Ellie, who was in front of the group, turned around to face them in a whirl of blue. "That's the thing, I don't think we can."

1 Sacrifice!

2 Stop! Stop!


	15. No Escape

Riza gave her a weird look, but Tim stepped up next to Ellie, putting his hand out like she had been doing. Sure enough, he hit a barrier. He knocked on it once for the others to hear. "I think someone's trapped us in here."

"They never put a barrier on the Hunt. They just have guards stationed around the perimeters. Sometimes it's just a rope around the area," Michael told them, "It wasn't dad."

"I say it is probably a safe bet to assume whoever did this was the one trying to bomb us out of here," Tim thought aloud.

"Well what do we do now?" Ellie asked, "We're trapped. There's no escape.'

"We don't know that. We should follow this dome thing around in case there is an exit."

"Well, it's the best plan we have so far. Let's go."

They walked until nightfall, and just as they were about to climb a tree to camp for the night, Michael spotted a fire. They spied through the trees, making sure it was not another encampment. It most definitely was not. Some sort of Shroud-like airship had landed, and a large tent had been setup outside. A woman sat in a camp chair by the fire, looking onto a computer that resembled a Blackbox.

"What do you think?" Riza whispered, "Can we trust her? I don't think she was here during the Hunt. They clear the area of people, don't they?"

Before Michael could answer, the woman looked up with a Cheshire cat's grin. In a very slight Russian accent, she commanded, "Come on out, children. I've been waiting for you."


	16. Anna

Piper and Nero arrived just in time to stop Otto from rushing headlong into the dome. "What are you thinking?!" Piper demanded.

"Hi there, Sir," Otto mock saluted.

"Showing your thumb when you salute means surrender, Malpense."

"You idiots," Piper mustered, pulling out her katanas, "Raven, I'm surprised you didn't think…" She easily sliced through the dome, not waiting for anyone to follow before she went in.

Meanwhile, the kids were talking to the mysterious Russian woman. "Ye, I know your father. Everyone in our trade knows your father. He man who employs me also employs him."

"You work for Number One?" Michael asked with disdain.

"Yes, but soon he shall be working for _me_," she smiled.

"What's your name?" Michael was getting suspicious, noting that she had a gun at her waist.

"Call me Anna," the woman said.

"_**Anastasia! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN**_!" Piper shouted, bounding into the campsite, swords in hands.

"Ah, Piper, darling, welcome," Furan laughed, emptying all six chambers of her gun into Michael's head without a glance at him, "how nice to see you."


	17. Killing

_**A.N.: Well, I have to say this – don't read this if you can't handle minor curse words. Like ones that start with "d" and end with "amn"…**_

Piper didn't hesitate, rushing Furan with a katana sword. "No," Furan laughed when Piper fell down, once oblivious to the sting in her neck but now being brought down because of it, "Sleep."

The man with the tranquilizer gun jumped out of his hiding spot, Furan instructing him to take Piper, and that she would take the plane and be back later. He was to hesitate in the air before turning on his invisibility. The man nodded, dragging the body away.

Nero and the rest of the group arrived only seconds after the airship lifted off. Tim, Ellie and Riza ran to Nero (well, Ellie more so hopped), who instructed Otto to take them back to the Shroud. Nina, Otto, Shelby and Laura left with them, leaving the most capable fighters. All of this happened in a matter of seconds.

Nero had seen the man dragging Piper onto the airship, and he kept an eye on it as it lifted off. "Max, welcome. You seem to have missed your son-"

"You're going to pay, you dirty rotten-"

"_As I was saying_, you missed your son, but luckily you are just in time for the fireworks show."

Nero looked up, knowing deep down what was about to happen but not wanting to believe it. The airship exploded violently, sending up a mushroom cloud of black smoke. As he was watching in horror, Furan hopped onto her airship and took off, exiting the dome quickly.

"_**DAMN YOU, ANASTASIA FURAN! DAMN YOU TO HELL!**_" The whole jungle echoed with the words of a man whose entire family had been killed.


	18. Dad

The funeral was held as soon as they got back to HIVE. Unfortunately, they only had one body to bury. Nothing had been found in the wreckage of the helicopter, no clues as to what had happened.

The Pope had returned, the same man who had married them now coming to speak at Piper's funeral. Another unexpected guest had shown up, one who Nero had not seen in years. The old man had shown up slightly late, but he had not interrupted the milling group offering their consolations. Instead, he had stayed on the side of the group, but had taken a seat next to Nero when the funeral truly started. All he could do was put an arm around him and say, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? You're sorry now?" Nero asked, tears in his eyes, "My wife and son are dead. You didn't show up for our wedding, and you were the first person we invited. You were the only blood family that we had left. You didn't show up when Michael was born. You never met him at all. Your only daughter-in-law and only grandson are both dead, and you never got a chance to meet them."

"I know," said the old man, "and I regret it so much more now."

"Mom would have shown up."

"Your mother wouldn't have let … what are their names? Piper and Michael? Yes, Piper and Michael out of her sight. She would have been proud, Maximilian. Very proud."

"You don't even know their names," Nero said bitterly, "We named him after you, you know. Michael Nathaniel Nero. And you never once visited, you never called, nothing."


	19. The Living Dead (not zombies)

"I knew what was going on. I helped build this place, though I thought it was a bit… impossible," said the old man.

None of the mourners had noticed the door to the hall open slightly and close as if no one had touched it. No one noticed another person sneaking in, obviously very late and not wanting to interrupt the Pope's speech. No one had noticed them sit right down next to Nero and put an arm around him, and no one heard the black clad figure whisper, "_**Nothing**_ is impossible, Max."

"Piper," he gasped. The Pope paused, the whole room turning to see the return of the dead woman. Her jumpsuit was badly burned and there was dried blood flecking her face, but it was unmistakably Piper. "Angel," Nero wrapped his arms around her, afraid of letting her go and suddenly disregarding his anger at his father, "How?"

"It was easy, Max," they kissed as his father smiled at them, "They only had two guards who just happened to fall unconscious before I jumped. I hadn't even hit the ground when the helicopter detonated. When I went back to find you, all of you had left… and you had taken the body."

"She's beautiful, Max," his father said, about to shake her hand, and then giving his daughter-in-law a hug, regardless of the blood, "I'm so sorry I didn't meet you earlier. It's terrible that it had to be now, that it had to be this way."


	20. Not Piper

**A.N.: Ignore the line at the bottom, I tried to add this in there and it ended up all weird. Anyway, thanks to everyone who gave me ideas for this story, and YES THERE WILL BE ANOTHER ONE SOON. AFTER ALL, WHAT IS IN THIS MYSTERIOUS "BOOK?" PIPER MUST EXPLAIN... WELL, YOU'LL SEE.**

* * *

"Max, I love you, and I'm sorry I didn't get back earlier," Piper apologized. "I – duck!" She pulled him and his father down. Another person had entered the room unnoticed, this time not a friendly agent. Immediately security was upon her, but she had done enough damage.

"**Go ahead and take me away! You'll never catch me alive, Nero! She deserved what she got – after all, you need to make use of that extra casket, don't you?**" Anastasia yelled from her restraints. As she was carted out of the room, she added, "**And you wanted family at the funeral, so here I am!**"

Nero held Piper in his arms, bright scarlet blood pouring out o a wound in her chest. "Get them out of here," he ordered, and Raven and Nina (accompanied by Hue) began to quickly usher everyone out into the hallway.

"Max, I'm sorry. I… I've been lying to you," Piper was saying.

"Angel…" his eyes were filling with tears once again, this time at the sight of his wife bleeding to death, "For how long?"

"All of it," she was crying now too, "I love you so much, Max. But I'm not Piper and I never was."

Nero's eyes widened as she went on, "She was – is – my sister. I have a family, Max, but I hate them." She coughed, turning even paler. "Max, I love you so much, and I always will. But I had to lie… first to protect you, then to protect Michael too. I… I swear I never told her anything, Maxie. I hated her. I always have." She ran a hand through his hair, Nero drawing her close and not caring about getting blood on his clothes.

Anastasia Furan had taken his family… and now she _**was **_his family? Who was the woman that he had fallen in love with, who he was holding in his arms, trying to protect from the cold clutches of Death? Who was this woman, his son's mother and the love of his life?

"Angel, who are you? Really?" He brushed a lock of curly hair out of her face, again ignoring the pooling blood.

"I am Piper Nero. I wasn't… I don't deserve to be. But that's who I _**want**_ to be, Maxie. Yours."

He pulled her even closer, giving her a kiss as she told him, "The safe in our room… your birthday, then mine, then Michael's. I wrote it all… in case… read the book, Max. I wanted to tell you… but she took your mother, Max, and Michael… it would have killed you. And I love you too much… Max, my name, my real name is El… Ele-" She was cut off by a fit of coughing. "Read the book, Max… Ele-" again, a fit of coughing.

"No, Angel," he said, kissing her forehead, "You're Piper. _**My Piper**_. You don't have to be anyone you don't want to be. You're my Piper, my beautiful Angel Piper, and the love of my life. That's all you'll ever be to me."

Piper smiled painfully, tears cutting rivets in the blood on her face. "I love you, Max."

Just as Nero said, "I love you too, Piper," and gave her a kiss, she drew her last breath.


End file.
